California State University, East Bay (CSUEB), formerly known as California State University, Hayward (CSUH), currently maintains a SCORE program that supports three regular investigator-initiated research projects and one pilot project. CSUEB-SCORE is anticipated to support the efforts of three additional subprojects, one investigator-initiated and two pilots, within the next couple of months following unofficial verbal notification on the status of a previously submitted supplemental proposal. These new additions would increase the total number of CSUEB-SCORE supported projects to seven, and reflect support for expanded research efforts of faculty members from the Department of Biological Sciences. This current supplemental application requests funding to support one additional, amended investigator-initiated research subproject from the Department of Biological Sciences. Program goals have been predetermined and include: (1) to enhance the ability of participating faculty to develop competitive research programs; and (2) to increase the biomedical research productivity of participating CSUEB faculty. The inclusion of a new subproject to the CSUEB-SCORE award results in the program's promotion of a more comprehensive atmosphere of research-based scholarship and achievement for faculty and students alike. CSUEB-SCORE welcomes new participants and acknowledges that their participation not only fosters new research endeavors, but also increases the research profile of the university as a whole. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]